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Virabadhra Bas Relief Plaque
Tamil Nadu, India
18th century
height: 21.5 cm; width: 12.5 cm
This exceptional Virabhadra plaque is unusual not only for the quality of the high relief bronze-
casting but also for the rarely-seen attention to volume and proportions.
Virabhadra is shown with three eyes and four hands in which he holds a bow, an arrow, a sword
and a shield.
Daksha, whose human head was replaced with a ram’s head, stands on Virabhadra’s left, his
hands in anjali mudra.
The figure to Virabhadra’s right probably is Bhadrakali, Virabhadra’s consort. Her hands are
also in anjali mudra.
The sun and crescent moon adorn the upper portions of the plaque, and a Yali crowns the top,
under a hood of a cobra, the tips of which are no longer present.
Vivid details of Virabhadra’s clothing and ornaments have been cast with vivid detail. He has
multiple chest ornaments, earrings and a crown. A Shivalingam has been cast onto the chain
that juts from the plaque and runs across Virabhadra's legs. His left foot also juts from the
plaque in high relief. Unusually, both feet wear platform wooden sandals. (A similar plaque in
the Norton Simon Museum also has sandals - "a departure from the common practice among
Indian deities," says Pal (2003).)
This piece has a very dark patina and has signs of encrustation.
Virabhadra, an incarnation of Shiva, was created after Shiva's wife, Sati, was not invited to a
great sacrifice given by her father Daksha. Sati, being greatly humiliated, went to the banquet
and threw herself on the sacrificial fire. When Shiva heard of his wife's death, he tore a hair
from his head and threw it to the ground. Virabhadra, a great hero-warrior, arose from this hair.
He cut off Daksha's head in his rage and hurled it into the sacrificial fire. After he other gods
calmed Shiva down, Daksha's head was replaced by that of a goat or in this case, a ram.
Daksha later became a devotee of Shiva.
References: The bas relief plaque of Virabhadra in the collection of the Simon Norton Museum
(M. 1974.16.6.S) is illustrated in Pal, P., Art from the Indian Subcontinent: Asian Art at the
Simon Norton Museum, Volume 1, Yale University Press, 2003, p. 303.
Inventory no.: 164
This Item is available - Ask about this item
Virabadhra Bas Relief Plaque
Tamil Nadu, India
18th century
height: 21.5 cm; width: 12.5 cm
This exceptional Virabhadra plaque is unusual not only for the quality of the high relief bronze-
casting but also for the rarely-seen attention to volume and proportions.
Virabhadra is shown with three eyes and four hands in which he holds a bow, an arrow, a sword
and a shield.
Daksha, whose human head was replaced with a ram’s head, stands on Virabhadra’s left, his
hands in anjali mudra.
The figure to Virabhadra’s right probably is Bhadrakali, Virabhadra’s consort. Her hands are
also in anjali mudra.
The sun and crescent moon adorn the upper portions of the plaque, and a Yali crowns the top,
under a hood of a cobra, the tips of which are no longer present.
Vivid details of Virabhadra’s clothing and ornaments have been cast with vivid detail. He has
multiple chest ornaments, earrings and a crown. A Shivalingam has been cast onto the chain
that juts from the plaque and runs across Virabhadra's legs. His left foot also juts from the
plaque in high relief. Unusually, both feet wear platform wooden sandals. (A similar plaque in
the Norton Simon Museum also has sandals - "a departure from the common practice among
Indian deities," says Pal (2003).)
This piece has a very dark patina and has signs of encrustation.
Virabhadra, an incarnation of Shiva, was created after Shiva's wife, Sati, was not invited to a
great sacrifice given by her father Daksha. Sati, being greatly humiliated, went to the banquet
and threw herself on the sacrificial fire. When Shiva heard of his wife's death, he tore a hair
from his head and threw it to the ground. Virabhadra, a great hero-warrior, arose from this hair.
He cut off Daksha's head in his rage and hurled it into the sacrificial fire. After he other gods
calmed Shiva down, Daksha's head was replaced by that of a goat or in this case, a ram.
Daksha later became a devotee of Shiva.
References: The bas relief plaque of Virabhadra in the collection of the Simon Norton Museum
(M. 1974.16.6.S) is illustrated in Pal, P., Art from the Indian Subcontinent: Asian Art at the
Simon Norton Museum, Volume 1, Yale University Press, 2003, p. 303.
Inventory no.: 164
This Item is available - Ask about this item
